Before stopping to see Tiger Style in Mountain View, Inna decided to have an early dinner at the nearby Doppio Zero pizzeria.
Inna made a dinner reservation at 17:45, and I drove directly there, meeting with Inna on the way to the pizzeria. After being seated outdoors, we looked at the online menu and ordered the following:
- Appetizer: Pera Salad, 2 Mushroom Soups, Hot Tea
- Entree: DoppioZero Pizza
- Dessert: Panna Cotta
We enjoyed the mushroom soup and the pear salad. The DoppioZero pizza was excellent (though not at the level of Naples, Italy). The Panna Cotta was delicious, too, especially the berries.
At 19:50, we walked toward TheatreWorks Mountain View to watch "Tiger Style," an amusing comedy about Asians.
Here is what TheatreWorks writes about Tiger Style:
By MIKE LEW
Directed by JEFFREY LO
Ivy-League graduates and squabbling siblings Albert and Jennifer Chen spent their whole childhoods totally crushing it. But adulthood? Epic fail. After he’s passed over for a promotion and her loser boyfriend ghosts her, they do what any self-respecting thirtysomethings would do: Blame their parents and run away to China. Problem solved…right? (Spoiler alert: Wrong. So, so wrong.) From SoCal to Shenzhen, Mike Lew’s hilarious new satire is a claws-out look at the triumphs and traumas of tiger parenting and what it takes to make it out the other side alive.
Los Altos Online wrote the following review:
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s production of “Tiger Style!” is set to open Saturday and run through April 28 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.
Written by Mike Lew in 2016, the comedic satire focuses on tiger parenting, the strict form of parenting typical in some East Asian societies. The play centers around Albert and Jennifer Chen, two American-Chinese siblings who’ve hit ceilings in their young adult lives despite “acing” childhood. The pair blame their predicament on the way they were raised, leading them to run away from their problems by traveling to China, but that doesn’t solve anything
“‘Tiger Style!’ is a really hilarious and wacky play that’s rooted in some really real circumstances and emotions within the Asian American community,” director Jeffrey Lo said. “The play’s a complex look at how everyone’s trying their best and how everyone’s identity and everyone’s success is actually not solely found within one place or person, it’s found within themselves.”
Lead actor Will Dao, who portrays Albert, relates to the subject matter.
“The script just speaks so much to me and I can bring a lot of my own experiences as a Chinese American,” Dao said. “There were times when I’m like, ‘Hey, why haven’t I gotten further in life?’ And you know, questioned how much my upbringing played into that?”
Lo also feels a strong connection to the play and its characters.
“Albert and Jennifer feel like people that I’ve known my entire life,” Lo said. “They feel like family members of mine, they feel like friends I grew up with. They feel like myself in some ways. That’s just really fun to be able to have that on stage.”
While “Tiger Style!” has heavier themes, Lo is proud of how he brings out the comedic aspects in the play.
“There are parts where I think my brand of humor sort of comes through and is really in line with the dialogue of our playwright Mike Lew,” Lo said.
Dao appreciates Lew’s dialogue as well.
“It’s just a lot of fun to play him,” Dao said. “Lew’s writing is just so smart, funny and snappy. The play just pulls you in with its language. It’s a comedy based on very real, very raw emotions.”
With opening night just around the corner, the cast and crew seem excited to put on their show after weeks of rehearsals.
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